Journal Trade with Veronica - Completed Pages

Veronica and I exchange projects all the time -- we buy two of different items, and we each make something with them. I picked a Making Memories spiral-bound journaling book and a sheet of sewing-&-garden inspired rub-ons. And, as I've said a few times before on this here blog, Veronica does NOT like surprises, so I enjoy giving her a glimpse of the work as it comes along. I finally decided to use a drawing pad, 6" x 8", to support the lightweight MM journal sheets. Patty at The Tuscan Rose gave me the doorway collage that kicked-off this page. I also bought the girl with doll transparency sheet from her. I'm telling you, between her shop and Bluebird Lane, I really don't have to go elsewhere for my goodies. I used foamie stamps for the underlay (flowery Moroccan design and copper butterflies). Mary Mata's image, from her collage sheet French Rose. Strip of blue velvet ribbon (luscious, luscious, did I say luscious?) I love you for Veronica, of course. I love to create fantasy pages that imply a story. The Bella dress stamp is one I actually bought for myself - I really respond to the femininity of it, the flowers. The dress became the basis for this page. I thought maybe the 'grandmother' (upper right) might be re-telling the tale of a love met/lost in Egypt to her namesake granddaughter (lower left). The dress is the one Grandmother wore, and which she is giving to the granddaughter at the same time she tells the love story. But you can make up your own story, of course (just let me know what it is, ok?) This is the first page I did in the original journal. The tags have similar stamps and colors, but in different places, and each has one of three 'dress' rub-ons from the set that was part of what we have to use, and that really dictate the color palette: green, pink/rose, robin's egg blue, black, cream. Again, the tags slip behind the black leafy page. I set these all down side-by-side and stamped all the images across each of them, so they had some consistency on this side, too. Each has a face, a word, and a French stamp. The angel image is a gift from Patty. I spray painted this piece of screen with an overlay to make it look like a trellis. The bird image came out of a magazine, and Veronica sent me the grass and leaf die cuts. That gorgeous 'blue' woman came from a collage sheet I bought from Ten Two Studios, the 'turquoise' sheet. The tag tucks behind the piece of screen. Veronica and I share music finds all the time, and generally love the same music. I had to include something to do with that. This is the paper that was behind the screen when I spray painted it -- cool, accidental stencil. The woman is from Mary Mata's Girl in the Garden stamp set. I use this quote a lot; it's very evocative for me. The blue stenciling? I bought a set of 'Glimmer Screens' from Creative Play and used portions of one of those. Iron-on glittery flowers, Basic Grey papers -- the tag can hang (the back is a personal message to Miss V). I haven't decided yet what, if anything, I'll do to that big green space. The tag tucks in behind that. Newspaper clipping from a paper I brought back from Rome. Maureen Blackmon Venezia stamp, and an Italian ticket stamp. Basic Grey flourish edge stamps. The business card is from a restaurant we've visited twice, now, in Montespertoli, Tuscany, which serves a spicy fried rabbit dish I actually dream about. See that little insert? That's the size of some of the original notebook pages that I had hoped to use, but they are too small and flimsy, so we decided we could use another base but use these pages as we chose. I got the 'while you were out' message from an old pad in a used office supply store -- I just liked how yellow and brittle it had become. The lamp image came from a lighting magazine. The back side of the insert. That ivy/flower tag came with an order I received a long time ago and I've finally found a perfect use for it. I also just bought the ivy rollagraph wheel. Double BB is nuts about ivy, so this will get used like mad! Veronica and I plan to visit Paris and Italy (Paris: just the two of us; Italy: with our hubbies). This is my fantasy of that. Veronica has gifted me with several Bellas, and I am determined to show her I'm capable of using the wee lovelies! The post card is vintage, from my collection, a piece I've had for almost 10 years and finally decided to part with. The palm tree (dontcha love that?) is a rub-on. This layout is a direct rip-off of one in Somerset Life, because it blew me away when I saw it, and because I wanted to see what I could do with it. The green background and the top strip are both wallpapers from Patty. She also gave me the image of the little girl with the cat, printed on white muslin. I used ink pads to create the color squares, then stamped the woman leaning over the flowers (Veronica gave me this rubber stamp). The pink rose in the uppper right is cut out of a piece of vintage wallpaper from Patty I clear-embossed a fern foamie stamp over the top, randomly, then chalked it with yellow. The curly-cues in the lower right came from a Cuttlebug die folder that Veronica sent me.

I've been working on this all day today, absolutely in a Clueless Bliss Zone, listening to Paula Cole, Patti Scialfa, Minnie Driver, and Queen Latifah -- I haven't even taken a break to nosh on anything but I'm just not hungry when I get into that special place. I don't feel 'done' yet, either ... ideas generate more ideas, and I think a few more pages are going to flow out of me yet. I also have to think about how I want to bind these, but I never consider that until I've finished the pages.